


Directions

by pacifistmoments



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gender-Neutral Chara, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Grocery Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 16:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7446403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacifistmoments/pseuds/pacifistmoments
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk, Asriel, and Chara go shopping for pie ingredients. They immediately get lost.</p><p>This is a one-off in the same canon as my ongoing story <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/6548656/chapters/14982415">True Preset</a>. It stands on its own just fine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Directions

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Chara demanded as they rounded yet another purple corner of Home’s market district. Frisk had to agree that it seemed like they were going in circles.

“Um…” Asriel trailed off for way too long as he looked up and down the street trying to find some sort of a landmark. “Mom has taken me to the grocery store a billion times, but she always leads the way. I think it’s next to a flower shop?”

Chara gave an exasperated sigh and Asriel quickly hedged his answer. “B-but I think I recognize this street. That’s a bookstore on the corner so, yeah, I definitely know where we are. Definitely.”

Chara raised one eyebrow and gestured across the street to a well-dressed turtle-monster strolling along in a wide feathered cap. They moved jauntily, but not too quickly.

“I’m going to go ask that person for directions.”

“No! I- I’ve got this. We just need to keep going down this road. After the book store we, uh, we, um- I think it’s a left and then a right? No, it’s two rights. Definitely two rights.”

“Asriel! Two rights would just put us going back this way one street down!”

“Asriel,” Frisk said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him, “Mom tends to take a lot of detours, stopping in at places to say hello and doing small side errands. If we trace her steps exactly this could take us another hour. But I bet if we ask someone nicely we could learn a new shortcut. We do want to buy our ingredients and get back home in time to surprise Mom and Dad with pie, don’t we?”

Asriel nodded slowly. “…I suppose. I could have gotten us there though.”

“I know.”

Chara was already halfway across the street. The Underground had no cars, but Frisk looked both ways out of habit before chasing after with Asriel at their heel. The turtle-monster tipped his hat politely as the three children rushed over to him.

“OI! If it isn’t the little prince and his two friends. Tell me, how can Sir. Hawksbill be of service to you?”

Sir. Hawksbill wasn’t super tall as far as monsters go, but he was still twice the height of any of the kids so they all stared up at him even as he, hat in hand, gave Asriel a sweeping bow. Up close, Frisk noticed that he wore a long thin blade at his side. Chara saw it too and gaped openly.

“Are you a musketeer!?”

“A musketeer?” The turtle sounded puzzled. Frisk doubted that monsters knew what muskets were. “I am but a member of the Royal Guard. We patrol the streets, settle petty disputes, and generally help those we come across who are in need. It is a noble, but humble profession.”

“Oh,” Chara sounded a little disappointed, but they were ever one for business. “Well then, could you give us some directions?"

Frisk grinned. “Yeah. I’d really like to know the way to your heart.”

Chara face-palmed. “Frisk. I swear. If you flirt with one more person today I will break you in half.”

“What? Are you… jealous? Will a hug cheer you up?”

Frisk opened their arms wide, but Chara shoved them away. “You wish, Nerd.”

Asriel looked shyly between the two as the turtle scratched his head and put the hat back on.

“You, uh, do me an honor kid, but I’m a happily married monster. Though if there was somewhere else you were looking to find, I’d be happy to help.”

“The grocery store!” Chara blurted out as Asriel nodded along. “It’s somewhere nearby, right? Could you tell us the shortest route?”

“Oh, there’s no place around here that sells food. You’re in the business district. Unless you’re looking to have pencils pushed, there’s not much for you here. No, you want the market district. That’s about five blocks thataway.”

The turtle gestured off into the distance back the way they had just come.

Chara immediately rounded on Asriel. “I knew it! ‘ _This is the market district. I’ve been here a billion times. My name is Asriel, I’m the prince of all monsters, and I could never get lost here._ ’”

“Aw, come on Chara, I don’t sound like that. I just took a wrong turn is all.”

“Well,” Frisk said, their voice dripping with pleasantness as they gave Chara a warning look. “It was a nice walk at least.”

Chara grimaced and looked down at their feet. Frisk could tell they already felt a bit guilty for picking on Asriel. They always did. “Yeah,” they mumbled.

It took another twenty minutes or so of walking to reach the grocery store, but Sir. Hawksbill scratched some quick directions onto a bit of scrap paper for the kids so they reached it without further mishap. As the kids stood outside staring up at the sign which was basically a giant picture of a vegetoid, Frisk reached into one of their pockets and then made a face.

“Uh, did one of you think to grab the list of ingredients we needed off the table?”

“Chara’s got it,” Asriel said with a roll of his eyes. “Remember. They said we’d just lose it or something.”

Frisk thought back and then nodded. That was right. Chara had meticulously copied the recipe out of the book and then refused to part with it. Now though, Chara’s face was turning a bright bright shade of red. Frisk groaned.

“Don’t tell me.”

“Shut up! It’s because you two were in such a hurry! I wouldn’t have forgotten it if you two hadn’t gone outside while I was still changing my clothes!”

“Well, it’s too late now. You did copy the list down though. Do you remember what was on it? I know the basics… milk, flour, eggs… but what else do we need?”

“Chocolate.”

Asriel squealed and stomped his foot. “Chara, no! We already decided. We’re doing Cinnamon-Butterscotch. We can do a double chocolate fudge pie next time!”

“Yeesh, calm down Asriel. I was only kidding. We obviously need Butterscotch and Cinnamon, but we also need salt and sugar and a few cups of b-”

“Regular butter.”

“Yes Frisk, you calm down too. I would never suggest margarine. Butter substitutes are gross.”

As the children walked inside and surveyed the wide expanse of shelves in all directions, Chara stepped in front of the group and put their hands on their hips authoritatively.

“Ok, you two. We’re running short on time thanks to our detour earlier so we’re going to have to split up. Frisk. You seem to care passionately about butter for some reason and I’m not one to judge, so I’m putting you in charge of all the dairy. That means milk, butter, and eggs. Asriel. Are you feeling strong?”

“Yeah!?” Asriel looked wary of where this was going, but was ever eager to impress.

“Good, then you go get us one of those heavy things of flour and another of sugar. That’s one for each arm. Can you handle it?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“Great, then I’ll get the key ingredients, Butterscotch and Cinnamon. We’ll all meet back in front of the checkout line in five minutes. Got it?”

Frisk and Asriel nodded.

Following the signs hanging overhead, Frisk made their way towards the back of the store. They found the (regular) butter quickly enough, but the milk and eggs were on the other side of the freezer section. Frisk tucked their hands just inside the sleeves of their striped sweater, glad they had worn it today and started walking briskly down the aisle, looking with passing curiosity inside the cases for anything that stood out as interesting.

There were a lot of strange, wonderful, and horrifying flavors of ice cream and Frisk was so busy simultaneously shaking their head at licorice spider swirl and wondering if they could find a carton of normal chocolate for Chara that they bumped directly into a sample cart.

“Ahoy thar! Watch where yer goin’ ya land lubber!”

“Oh! I’m sorry.” Frisk blinked up into the scarred and tattooed face of a broad-shouldered blue bunny. He wore a big red coat, had a hook for a hand and a peg for a leg, and there was a fake parrot sewed onto his shoulder. “Um, are you a sailor…? Is there anything down here but land to lub?”

“Har har har, yer a funny one. Me name be Capbun Hook and between you and me-” the bunny coughed, “This is just a get up for selling me new ice cream brand. I call it Mean Cream. Here, have a sample.”

Frisk took the sample. It was an ice cream pirate face on a stick. The eyes and mouth and hat looked like they were melting off. The design was hideous, but it tasted good. As Frisk finished the last of it off they read the stick. It said ‘You’re garbage. :)’.

Frisk raised an eyebrow at the pirate bunny.

“Well? Are you going to buy a box or not?”

Frisk stuck out their tongue and was about to say no when they saw a box of Fudge Mean Cream on the corner of the sample stand. They were pretty sure they had enough extra spending gold to afford it.

By the time Frisk collected the eggs and milk and made it back to the front of the store, Chara was standing there with their arms crossed and Asriel was teetering back and forth nearby with two over-sized bags of flour and sugar. Chara clucked their tongue.

“Finally. I thought maybe you’d gotten lost but I didn’t dare send Asriel after you.”

“I’m fine!” Asriel insisted, as though he hadn’t quite heard what Chara said, “I’ve totally got these.”

Frisk grinned and said nothing and then slid the box of Fudge Mean Cream out from where they’d concealed it under the egg carton and passed it to Chara. Chara’s face now also split into a wide smile.

“Frisk, you’re a real pain, but sometimes I love you.”

The three paid for their ingredients and walked home, eating Mean Cream, and laughing at the horrible stick messages all the way.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written live on a four hour stream to celebrate [True Preset](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6548656/chapters/14982415) reaching 5k hits. Only a few people were able to attend, but I periodically gave viewers a few choices on what would happen next and let them pick. As such, a big Special Thanks to:  
> [Notesanddreams](http://notesanddreams.tumblr.com/)  
> [Xormak](http://thexormak.tumblr.com/)  
> for their major participation and to everyone else who showed up just to watch. You all rock. :)


End file.
